The enrollment in 1945-46 with the war winding down, was 819 and in 1946-47 was 2,044, reflecting the effect of the GI Bill. Approximately sixty new faculty were added in this year. The engineering program as one would now conceive it really dates back to the fall of 1946. The 250 percent increase in students, the hiring of scores of new faculty and the acquisition of tons and tons of military surplus hardware made a very marked impact on the campus and all its operations.
A personality conflict had arisen between Mr. Hyer, the long-time senior instructor in the Electrical Department and an instructor coming out from one of the war time programs on campus to carry responsibility for radio and communication courses in the curriculum. Early in 1946, Mr. Hyer locked this instructor's desk and told him to remove the radios and other electronic gear from the building. It was almost two weeks before Mr. Knott succeeded in convincing Mr. Hyer that as a gentleman he should permit the instructor to retrieve his papers and files from the desk. In the meantime, Harry K. Wolf, an instructor coming out from the Signal Corps Training Program, was asked by Mr. Knott for advice concerning the dilemma caused by Mr. Hyer's adamant rejection of expansion in electronics and in the curriculum and the very active interest on the part of many GI students in the new technology. Mr. Wolf suggested a split into two departments.
Mr. Knott, a very dedicated person possessing a thoughtful and extremely calm and unexcitable nature, seized upon this situation to boldly launch an exciting new discipline by establishing the Radio and Electronic Engineering Department. In the 25 years he had been a part of Cal Poly, Mr. Knott had demonstrated his appreciation for both short term and long term goals, planning and strategy. This had not always worked for his own benefit in dealing with the President's office. While it may not have been his interest to establish a new trend in the long term, leading to the information society, he saw possibilities in the very new and small industry of electronics. It is said that trends, like horses, are easier to ride in the direction they are already going. He chose not to do that with respect to the academic trend in electrical engineering education. It is now realized that electronics has altered the course of the whole world, that it is replacing the automobile as the most important industry in our economy, and that we are passing from an industrial economy to an information economy. One wonders if there is one or more individuals in the School of Engineering today who will analyze the trends and determine long term goals as well as short term goals. The Electronic and Electrical Engineering Department should be moving its emphasis on the specialist who rapidly becomes obsolete to the generalist who can readily adapt to new situations, technologies and challenges.